# Food ingredients now essential that were unavailable before Columbian exchange **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230 "2019-08-06T12:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/41 "2019-08-07T06:26:10Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > As an Australian, thinking about the Columbian Exchange, I wondered what my part of the world contributed to world cuisines. > > [Macadamia nuts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macadamia). And that’s it. I couldn’t identify any other native Australian food that’s **commonly consumed** outside of this country. BBQ prawns and grilled lamb chops? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/42 "2019-08-07T08:12:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Returning to the New -\> Old half of the exchange, how about blueberries (_Cyanococcus_)? Would you say they’re now an “essential” ingredient outside the New World, and if so, did they “replace” another food? I wouldn’t call them essential, and there \*are \*native Old World “blueberries” : [bilberries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry). > [@guizot](#): > > I wonder if tomatoes “replaced” anything in Europe, or if they were just a whole new thing that eventually took hold. I can’t really think of a common Medieval ingredient it replaced. There did used to be a lot more fruit used in meat dishes, but I’m not sure if tomato could be said to replace that, or just came in as styles were changing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/43 "2019-08-07T12:36:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’s hard to imagine a world without french fries (potatoes). They’re available in so many countries with burgers. Burgers & fries seemed to arrive at similar times. I can’t think of anything else that would be paired with a burger… Different countries have their different traditions for food pairings with chips/fries - in Belgium, it was fish and mussels, in the UK, fried fish, in France, with steak. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/44 "2019-08-07T12:40:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I think turnips served in the “potato” role pre-Columbian exchange. Probably other root vegetables like rutabagas/swedes, too. Turnips were certainly eaten a lot, but I’d argue that, for a year-round staple, bread and pottage would be the go to. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/45 "2019-08-07T12:48:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > They’re a wine making grape. [Thanks](https://winefolly.com/review/a-guide-to-muscadine-wine/), Nemo. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/46 "2019-08-07T13:34:17Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > cranberries Cranberries are an interesting example. As far as I can tell, cranberries and cranberry products were basically unavailable outside North America a few decades ago. I couldn’t get them in Asia or Africa in the 1980s or 1990s. But then they started to show up…by the 2000s, it was easy to buy cranberry juice in Cairo and Jakarta, and at least in Jakarta it was not unheard of to see frozen cranberries for sale, though I suspect most buyers were North Americans living in Asia. I’ve always figured that the cranberry co-op folks decided it was time to tackle international markets, and gradually became more successful at doing so. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/47 "2019-08-07T13:57:51Z")
Were cranberries eaten as subsistence food by North American settlers? I wouldn’t think that native Americans would cultivate them. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/48 "2019-08-07T15:58:03Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Yeah, I wonder if maybe **TruCelt** was thinking of leafy greens like purslane and parsley (which I discovered with some surprise are not in fact etymologically related, slap my ass and call me Sally), and momentarily confused them with pulses. Cheers, Kimstu; thank you for your very kind and charitable take on the question. It’s clear though, that I was just using the word incorrectly. I’m constantly uncrossing my eyes when trying to understand these recipes. (example below) Nonetheless, our current use of the highly concentrated starch vegetables maize and potato replaced stewed leafy veg and higher fiber/starch ratio root veg like turnip and parsnip. Here’s one that I thought would be cookies, see if you can guess what we call it now. ROFL! Makerouns PERIOD: England, 14th century | SOURCE: Forme of Cury | CLASS: Authentic ORIGINAL RECEIPT: 1. Makerouns. Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerue it on pieces, and cast hym on boiling water & seeþ it wele. Take chese and grate it, and butter imelte, cast bynethen and abouven as losyns; and serue forth. - Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985. [spoiler] It’s Mac-n-cheese. GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION: Macaroni. Take a piece of thin pastry dough and cut it in pieces, place in boiling water and cook. Take grated cheese, melted butter, and arrange in layers like lasagna; serve. MODERN RECIPE: 3-4 lb. freshly home-made, undried noodles OR 1 lb. dried egg noodles\* 1 tbs. oil large pinch salt 2 cups grated cheese (see: How to Cook Medieval - Cheese) 1 stick butter Boil noodles with oil & salt until al dente (tender-crisp). Drain well. In a serving bowl or platter place some melted butter and cheese. Lay noodles on top and add more butter and cheese. Serve as is or continue adding layers of butter, cheese, and noodles. Use extra cheese as necessary. Serve immediately, or place in a hot oven for several minutes and then serve. Serves 8. Makerouns appears to be the ancestor of macaroni, and this dish may best be described as “medieval mac-n-cheese.” The period receipt advises to prepare it like “losyns” (lasagna), with layers of noodles, butter, and cheese. I find Cheddar cheese the tastiest, but feel free to try other varieties. The dish is wonderful when prepared with undried freshly made noodles, but works with a dried purchased variety as well. \*The original recipe noodles are essentially boiled pastry dough; if you have a pasta maker, feel free to use it in making your makerouns, boiling them while still fresh and undried. Egg noodles are probably the best to use when purchasing a commercial brand. Keep in mind the difference in weight between dried and undried noodles. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/49 "2019-08-07T16:25:32Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Cranberries are an interesting example. As far as I can tell, cranberries and cranberry products were basically unavailable outside North America a few decades ago. I couldn’t get them in Asia or Africa in the 1980s or 1990s. But then they started to show up…by the 2000s, it was easy to buy cranberry juice in Cairo and Jakarta, and at least in Jakarta it was not unheard of to see frozen cranberries for sale, though I suspect most buyers were North Americans living in Asia. > > I’ve always figured that the cranberry co-op folks decided it was time to tackle international markets, and gradually became more successful at doing so. Funnily enough I grew up with cranberries in the 1970s as a native species of them grows wild in parts of Scotland (and elsewhere in northern latitudes). We would pick them and make cranberry sauce. The only difference is that the berries were smaller than the commercial American type. A native species of blueberry also grows in many parts of Britain, called bilberry or blaeberry. They’re also smaller than the American type, possibly tastier. Lots of people pick them for jam or eating fresh. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/50 "2019-08-07T16:25:58Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Are sweet potatoes really that important an addition? Many parts of the old world had a variety of sweetish, starch-laden tubers. Taro root in the far east and yams from southern Africa are two examples that had spread widely prior to standardized contact with the new world. Charles C. Mann, in 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, posited that sweet potatoes helped fuel the Chinese population explosion, as the yield per acre _at the time_ was far greater than rice or other grains, though it turned out the farming methods were much more environmentally unfriendly in the longer term. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/51 "2019-08-07T16:40:08Z")
In the US as well, wild blueberries (usually called “huckleberries”) are also both smaller and tastier than the cultivated varieties. ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/52 "2019-08-07T16:47:54Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Charles C. Mann, in 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, posited that sweet potatoes helped fuel the Chinese population explosion, as the yield per acre _at the time_ was far greater than rice or other grains, though it turned out the farming methods were much more environmentally unfriendly in the longer term. Which part of China? B/c rice is still the staple for most Chinese people, and sweet potatoes is another snack. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/53 "2019-08-07T16:56:56Z")
> [@moojja](#): > > Which part of China? B/c rice is still the staple for most Chinese people, and sweet potatoes is another snack. 530 years is enough time for agricultural and eating practices to change several times. Food “traditions” are often not more than a generation or two old. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/54 "2019-08-07T17:46:54Z")
> [@moojja](#): > > Which part of China? B/c rice is still the staple for most Chinese people, and sweet potatoes is another snack. In addition to **Ascenray** ’s answer, this was also pre-industrial revolution. Lastly, China is very large, and not everywhere is suitable for rice growth. At a time when you need 10 farmers for every 50 or so people and mass food transportation is centuries off, you grow what yields the most in that area at that time. The more people that can be freed from agriculture, the more to support larger cities and more industry. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/55 "2019-08-07T18:13:51Z")
Quinoa seems to be becoming widespread lately. However it seems the only crops are within its native Andes mountain range, putting pressure on the locals who rely on it as a food-staple. I haven’t looked into it, but I guess it needs high-altitudes. Pawpaws may be on the rise, too, at least with North America; a quick search indicates there are old-world relatives, though they might have their own flavors and textures and applications. ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/56 "2019-08-07T19:59:27Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Charles C. Mann, in 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, posited that sweet potatoes helped fuel the Chinese population explosion, as the yield per acre _at the time_ was far greater than rice or other grains, though it turned out the farming methods were much more environmentally unfriendly in the longer term. > [@D\_Odds](#): > > In addition to **Ascenray** ’s answer, this was also pre-industrial revolution. Lastly, China is very large, and not everywhere is suitable for rice growth. At a time when you need 10 farmers for every 50 or so people and mass food transportation is centuries off, you grow what yields the most in that area at that time. The more people that can be freed from agriculture, the more to support larger cities and more industry. Which is why I asked which part of China. At least among the Han Chinese population, sweet potatoes doesn’t have same culture impact on Chinese Irish cuisine like the potatoes have on the Irish cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/57 "2019-08-07T20:15:13Z")
“China and the Sweet Potato” – [http://www.chinastudyabroad.org/indepthchina/1039-china-and-the-sweet-potato](http://www.chinastudyabroad.org/indepthchina/1039-china-and-the-sweet-potato) > [@](#): > > Today China is the world’s biggest producer of sweet potatoes … > > The sweet potato, a native of the west coast of South America, arrived in China via the Spanish Philippines. > > … > > The story goes that a Chinese merchant named Chen Zhenlong in the early 1590s came across the sweet potato (ipomoea batatas) in his contact with Spanish merchants in the Philippines. … > > While all this potato vine smuggling was going on, China itself was in the middle of a mini ice age that caused two decades of hard rains in the 1580s and 1590s. These rains flooded the great rice paddle fields of the southern regions of Fujian, Guangdong, and Sichuan. Famine spread as people lost everything. Chen Zhenlong’s son showed the crop his father had brought to China to the local governor of Fujian and persuaded him to let the people use it to grow a new food that could feed them cheaply and with no reliance on the complex irrigation systems of rice cultivation. > > It worked. The crop spread quickly and fed the peoples of Fujian just in time for the fall of the Ming dynasty and the consequent wars and disruption that would plunge the country into chaos. The massive internal refugee crisis this period of Chinese history caused forced people onto new land that was not suitable for traditional food production. Known as shack people by other Chinese these refugees mainly of Hakka ethnicity found the soil was too thin for wheat and the slopes too steep for the irrigation of rice paddies. > > Enter the sweet potato again to save the day. The Hakka people adopted American crops like potatoes, maize, and tobacco and thrived on China’s south-east coastline. Planting maize and potatoes into every piece of land they could, the shack people and migrants almost tripled the nation’s cultivated area between the years 1700 and 1850. > > Soon many Chinese farmers’ diets revolved around the sweet potato, not just rice and grain: sweet potatoes baked and boiled, sweet potatoes ground into flour for noodles, sweet potatoes mashed with pickles or deep fried with honey or chopped into stew with turnips and soybean milk, even sweet potatoes fermented into a kind of wine.[2] When European missionaries arrived a century later, all they could find was potato crops in the region. > > Potatoes then moved westward into the interior of the Qing empire through Sichuan and then into Tibet. Along the way they revolutionized agriculture wherever they went. Potatoes increased arable land and food stocks and therefore increased populations. Where once desperate poor people toiled for food day after day, now people could develop themselves and their cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/58 "2019-08-08T16:12:51Z")
How about chia, has that grown in popularity abroad? I mean, as a food, not a chintzy novelty toy. I see it sold alongside trendy whole foods. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/59 "2019-08-08T17:00:23Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Here’s one that I thought would be cookies, see if you can guess what we call it now. ROFL! I didn’t need to guess, I’ve made this many times. And I make my own dough for it. Also, _loseyns_ - what modern dish would you think that was? Newbies are often surprised when I offer them medieval blancmange… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230/60 "2019-08-08T17:29:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I think turnips served in the “potato” role pre-Columbian exchange. Probably other root vegetables like rutabagas/swedes, too. Likely not rutabagas, since they didnt appear until well after 1492, possibly as late as around 1620, actually. However, turnips dont grow like potatoes, which were a revolution. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-ingredients-now-essential-that-were-unavailable-before-columbian-exchange/838230.md?page=4)